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Delaware Water Resources Regional

Committee Meeting

August 11, 2006

9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Monroe County Conservation District

8050 Running Valley Road

Stroudsburg, PA 18360

DRAFT Meeting Summary

Attendance

Committee members in attendance:

Carol R. Collier

Jeff Featherstone

Desiree Henning-Dudley

John Hoekstra

Leonard Johnson

Irvil Kear

Gary Kribbs

Preston Luitweiler

Howard Neukrug

Barbara Smith

Michael Stokes

Maya van Rossum

Bob Wendelgass

Committee members not in attendance:

Allen Fidler

Julie Lyn Gallisdorfer

Hon. Kate Harper

Helen Haun

Darryl Jenkins

Michael Meloy

Arthur Needham

Others in attendance:

Trish Attardo – Monroe County Conservation District

Michelle Clark - DEP

Rachel Delavan – DEP

Bill Gast – DEP

Edward (Skip) Garlitz

George Kunkel – Phila. Water Dept.

David Pierce – Pocono Record

Craig Todd – Monroe County Conservation District

Leslie Sarvis - DEP

Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Introduction

Craig Todd, Monroe County Conservation District Manager, welcomed the committee and attendees and gave a brief overview of some of the water management issues in the northern part of the basin. Stormwater (Act 167) ordinances are being worked on to help manage flooding problems. In addition there is rapid growth in this part of the basin, so good water resources management is very important to deal with the increasing water demands.

Administrative Items

The Draft May Meeting Summary was approved with no changes.

Motion: Jeff Featherstone

Motion Second: Irvil Kear

Motion was carried.

DEP Summary of Activities

Leslie Sarvis introduced Rachel Delavan as her job share partner. Rachel began working for DEP in July and will share responsibilities with Leslie. For now, Leslie is still the lead DEP contact for the Delaware Committee, although this may change as job duties are divided between them. Rachel’s contact information is rdelavan@state.pa.us and her phone number is the same as Leslie’s: 717-772-5634.

Leslie Sarvis stated that the committee currently has three vacancies: one for the category of county conservation district director (Clark Connor’s position), one for county planning director (John Coscia’s position), and one for industrial (Lisa Hamilton’s position). DEP has a nomination to fill the conservation district director vacancy. DEP management staff are currently reviewing the nomination and will then forward it to the Governor’s Office. Hopefully the appointment will be made by the November meeting date. DEP staff continue to seek nominations for the other two vacancies. The 2006 committee member terms expire in September, and DEP staff have asked those whose terms expire to let us know if they are interested in continuing on the committee. Everyone on the Delaware Committee has indicated that they would like to continue.

DEP is developing a GIS-based electronic tool to display all water attribute and water quality data know to the Department. It is called the WAVE Tool (Water Attribute Viewer for the Enterprise) and is being developed in two phases. Phase I is the internal DEP view and was completed in July. Phase II will be the external display of the data as determined by the respective water programs and is not yet complete. DEP would like for Regional Committee members to volunteer to attend a tutorial session in the coming months to learn more about the WAVE Tool and to provide feedback to DEP. Leslie will email committee members at a later date to ask for volunteers.

Carol Collier informed the committee that DRBC submitted a Coastal Zone Management Enhancement Grant proposal to conduct a pilot Critical Area Resource Plan study on the Wissahickon Watershed. DEP staff is currently reviewing the grant proposal.

The committee asked when the CWPA Guidance Document would be published as final. Bill Gast said that the document is in DEP’s Policy Office for a final review, and it should be published in the PA Bulletin shortly. The committee said that DEP should involve all of the regional committees to help publicize the guidance document, because they did not feel that DEP’s publicizing alone would reach all interested parties.

Leslie added that a sub-group of the Ohio Regional Committee is compiling information on the Laurel Hill Creek Watershed as a potential CWPA. Leslie said she would send the committee a summary of the actions that the Ohio Committee has taken to collect data about the Laurel Hill Creek Watershed.

Regional Priorities Facilitated Discussion

Leslie Sarvis led a discussion on the committee’s Regional Priorities, which were originally developed in February 2004. The goal of today's meeting was to hone their priorities into "desired outcomes." These desired outcomes will be the basis of the committee’s final recommendations in their Regional Action Agenda portion of the State Water Plan.

To accomplish this goal, the committee first grouped its priorities into three primary headings: Linking Land and Water Resource Management, Waterways Corridor Management, and Sustainable Use and Supply. Then the committee divided itself into three breakout groups to refine the language of these priorities and integrate the other two headings (Institutional Coordination and Cooperation and Education and Involvement for Stewardship).

The breakout groups came to a stopping point so that they could share their progress with the other groups. The committee members agreed that they would like to continue refining their priorities via email and conference calls before the November meeting. Leslie will send the revised priorities to the full committee for their review and continued discussion. The priorities -- and the progress made on them -- will be discussed again at the November meeting.

Regional Atlas/Maps Discussion

More maps of the Delaware basin were brought to the meeting for committee members to add to their Penn’s Waters binders. The maps included:

▪ Water Use – Act 220 Registration – Note: This map was missing, so Leslie will make sure there are copies at the next meeting.

▪ Population Change – Note: Howard Neukrug questioned the population figures. Leslie said Dave Jostenski should be able to answer Howard’s questions.

▪ Land Cover

▪ Average Minimum and Maximum Temperatures

▪ Average Annual Precipitation

▪ Community Water Supply Service Areas

▪ A Summary of Forest Resources

Comments from the Public

Edward “Skip” Garlitz spoke briefly to the committee about his interest in flood control on the Delaware River. He owns property in a floodplain that has flooded three times, so he is working on a proposal to construct a flood gate structure – not a dam – to help abate flooding. There were no questions or comments from the committee members.

Follow-up/Next Steps

The next meeting is scheduled for November 9, 2006 at the DEP Southeast Regional Office in Norristown, beginning at 9:30am.

The meeting adjourned at 1:30pm.

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